Monday, May 21, 2018

FLORENCE, Ala. — Two members of the MTSU Fishing Club will advance to the national collegiate bass fishing championship after securing a top-10 finish in a regional tournament.

Matthew Cross and Mekiah Jack finished in sixth place in the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Southern Tour on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Alabama, April 22. Their final point total for the four-day event was 490.60, fewer than 10 points behind the first-place team from Adrian College in Michigan.

Cross, a senior agribusiness major from Murfreesboro, and Jack, a senior liberal studies major from Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, also distinguished themselves by winning the tournament’s Big Bass Award, snagging an 8-pound, 2-ounce largemouth on April 19.

The top 38 teams will move on to compete in the national tournament, which is slated for July 19-21 on Lake Tenkiller in Cherokee and Sequoyah counties of Oklahoma.

There are two more Southern Tour collegiate events on the schedule prior to the national contest. One is on Lake Cherokee in Jefferson City, Tennessee, May 10-12. The other is on Clear Lake in Lakeport, California, May 23-25.